


Happy Birthday, Koutarou

by SharkGirl



Series: Home [21]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animal Hybrids, Animal Hybrid AU, Cute, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sweet, birthday fic, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 11:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8099908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkGirl/pseuds/SharkGirl
Summary: Bokuto is acting strangely and Akaashi wants to get to the bottom of it.Written for Bokuto's Birthday 2016!





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's still the 20th in my timezone!! I'm sorry this is almost late!  
> This takes place...uh...nowish? After the others you've read so far ^^
> 
> Unbeta'd. Please enjoy!

“Koutarou has been acting strangely,” Akaashi admitted over his cup of hot chocolate.

Kenma, who was sitting across from him, glanced up from his game and blinked, his ears twitching.  “How so?” he questioned before his golden eyes returned to his screen.

“For starters, he woke up early for work this morning.”

The cat hybrid paused his game and set his handheld down, turning his attention on the other man.  “Go on.”

“He avoided eye contact all morning and then just left without his goodbye kiss.” Akaashi sighed, ruffling his feathers.  He was over at Kuroo and Kenma’s place, so he didn’t have to bother covering up.

Kenma cocked his head to the side and raised his brows, waiting for him to ask what he really wanted to know.

“Do you think…he’s grown tired of me?” he asked, hoping that Kenma, who had known Bokuto a great deal longer than he had, would realize what those sudden changes meant.

“I don’t think that’s the case.” Kenma picked his handheld back up and resumed playing. “He’s probably just acting weird because it’s his birthday.”

“His…birthday?” Akaashi’s eyes widened.  Bokuto hadn’t said anything to him about it.

“Yeah.” The cat shrugged. “He always gets super excited about it and then kind of mopey because he’s another year older.” He looked up for a moment. “But…there might be something else.”

“Please, Kenma-san.” Akaashi rolled his shoulders and opened his wings just a bit, bracing himself for whatever it was the other hybrid had to tell him.  “What else could be bothering him?”

“I’ll tell you,” Kenma began, quickly tapping buttons in rapid succession. “But you might not like it.”

 

Akaashi walked back to his and Bokuto’s apartment, the older man’s jacket covering his wings.  He thought about what Kenma had told him.

_‘He might feel bad because you don’t have a birthday.’_

It was true.  Hybrids weren’t born, so they didn’t have birthdays, per se.  They had the day they were given their serial numbers.  That was something, but not a day they celebrated year after year.

Still, Akaashi knew about birthdays.  Amelie, his first owner, had several lavish parties with balloons and cake, magicians and bounce houses, clowns and pony rides.  He recalled asking her what the party was for and she’d smiled softly, stroking his wings.

_‘It’s a birthday party, silly.’_

_‘A..birth…day…?’_ He’d known the words, yet they sounded strange strung together like that.

_‘Daddy says it’s the anniversary of when I came into the world.’_

Akaashi had grown silent at that.  It was yet another thing that separated hybrids from their human masters.

_‘Do you have a birthday, Keiji?’_

He'd shaken his head.

_‘Then…you can share mine!’_

Akaashi stuffed his hands into the pockets of Bokuto’s oversized jacket and sighed.  He couldn’t even remember what day that was.

Still, if today was Bokuto’s birthday, they needed to have a party.  Maybe his lover wouldn’t appreciate a piñata and pony rides – or maybe he _would_ – but Akaashi could cook him his favorite meal – he’d been learning! – and buy him a cake from the bakery down the street.

Yes.  He’d simply surprise Bokuto when he came home from work.

 

That night, when Bokuto came home, Akaashi was ready.  He had dinner on the table and the cake hidden in the fridge, the candles already atop it.

“Akaaaaaashi, I’m hooooome!” Bokuto called, sounding more like his usual self.

“Welcome home, Koutarou,” he greeted him. “How was work?”

“It was fine—wow, did you make all this?” The other man set his things down and walked over to the table, wiping the drool from his chin.  There was a wide variety of meats spread out, grilled and fried, breaded and seared, sauced and seasoned.  “Akaashi, marry me!” he said and pulled the owl hybrid into a tight hug, minding his wings.

“I would gladly,” Akaashi replied, his cheeks warm.  When Bokuto pulled back, his own face was pretty red.

“Uh, right, um-”

“Shall we eat?” He offered, saving that conversation for another time.  Humans couldn’t marry hybrids.  Of course, hybrids couldn’t get married at all.

“Let’s dig in.” Bokuto grinned and took a seat.

Akaashi ate quietly, barely touching his food, instead choosing to watch his lover attempt to devour everything in front of him, including his napkin.

When they’d finished, Bokuto pat his stomach and let out a contented sigh.

“Akaashi…you’ve ruined me,” he said. “I can never order takeout again.”

The owl laughed and shook his head before standing up.

“I have another surprise,” he said, heading into the kitchen.

“If it’s another course, I’ll try my best, but I don’t know if I’ll make it.” Bokuto guffawed and then belched. “Oops, excuse me,” he added, looking a little sheepish.

Akaashi smiled at him over the counter and then turned to get the cake out of the refrigerator.  He grabbed a book of matches and took one out, carefully lighting each candle until all twenty-four were glowing softly.  Then he picked up the cake and walked back toward the table, flicking the light switch as he went.

“Akaashi, what?” Bokuto frowned up at their light, probably wondering if they’d forgotten to pay the electric bill, but then he gasped when he saw the owl hybrid carrying the cake. “No, Akaashi…”

“Happy Birthday, Koutarou.” He set the cake down in front of him. “Make a wish.”

“Keiji…” Bokuto’s face crumpled. “No, it’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” He frowned, knowing what was coming.

“We shouldn’t celebrate my birthday, not when you-”

“Don’t have one?” Akaashi finished for him.

“Yeah.”

“Kenma-san told me all about it,” he said. “How awful you felt when you asked him about his birthday all those years ago.”

“I just kept asking, like an idiot.” Bokuto snorted. “I didn’t know when to quit. I…I thought he was just keeping it from me so only Kuroo could get him a present or something.”

Akaashi chuckled.

“But still.” His lover frowned. “It’s not fair to you.”

“I have a birthday,” Akaashi said.

“You…do?”

“Mhm.” He nodded. “My previous owner gave me one. The same day as hers.”

“Oh.” Bokuto's gaze dropped to the candles, their wax steadily dripping onto the frosting of the cake.

“But, you know, I…I can’t remember what day it is anymore,” Akaashi admitted.

Golden eyes snapped back up to meet his.

“Oh, Keiji, I’m sor-”

“So…maybe we can share yours?” He bit his lower lip, his fingers toying with the shorter feathers closer to his back.

Bokuto’s face lit up.

“Of course!”

“Great.” Akaashi smiled. “Now, blow out your candles.”

Bokuto blew them out with gusto and then froze, his thick eyebrows knitting together.

“Man, I should have saved half of them for you.” He pouted. “Now you don’t get a birthday wish.”

Akaashi stepped closer, sliding onto the other man’s lap. Bokuto's hands immediately fell to rest on his hips, pulling him closer as he nuzzled his neck.

“Why would I need a wish granted?” Akaashi asked, humming softly and wrapping his wings around them. “I already have everything I’ve always wanted.”

Bokuto huffed against his skin and pulled back, pouting anew.

“You always have to take the cool lines.”

“Happy Birthday, Koutarou.”

His lover sighed and grinned up at him.

“Happy Birthday, Keiji.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hoot hoot hooray!
> 
> Please let me know what you think and hit me up on tumblr [@jubesy](http://jubesy.tumblr.com)!


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